Time for a little honesty…

The new year is off to a rather familiar start. More lock downs, my team gets the shaft in the playoffs and snowflakes are still whining like someone shot their damn dog. More things change the more they clearly stay the same. I don’t know about you guys, but I hate reruns. I don’t want this entry to sound like a rerun as well, so let’s start this one off with a very candid confession.

I’m going to be brutally honest; writing has been very difficult for me for the last few years. Despite my best efforts, it’s been a struggle ever since the stroke I had in 2018. I’ve gotten most of my motor function back in my right arm/hand, and the typing is back up to where it was before that happened, but the creative process is still slow and it’s sometimes hard to get something out despite my desire to create new material. It doesn’t mean nothing is happening, as I’ve been writing many comic books, finishing chapters for novels, and even creating the occasional poem.

So, there is still stuff being written, but just not at the pace I would have preferred and expect from myself. I’m pretty sure this is coming across as a glass half empty kind of position, but I am dying to get back on track and get more projects finished this year. I want to write more novels, more poems, and more blog posts moving forward and despite how slow things have been, I’ll keep kicking at the darkness until it bleeds daylight. Extra cookies for those who know what song that line is from.

One of the things I have done to get out of this funk was take some classes to improve my craft. I’ve been taking numerous Masterclass courses, watching three videos every Tuesday and Thursday. So at any given time, I’m taking three classes two times a week. I’ve been doing that for almost two years now and I like to think it’s been very helpful. I’ve taken almost all of the writing classes, and have really enjoyed the classes taught by Dan Brown, Salman Rushdie, and Neil Gaiman. I’ve also enjoyed taking other classes such as social, media, and even cooking classes. I just finished a film-making class by Spike Lee, and while I have no intention of making any independent films in the near future I found his words inspiring and helpful in the application of my own art.

Another thing I’ve done to help is create a schedule. Every week is planned out and while I’ve been far from prefect in doing everything, just having the list there has increased productivity and that was the actual goal, to do more work and less procrastination. I have every day planned out, and I will do my best to get some work done and try to be the best writer than I can be. Despite my planning, things do get missed but the point was to do better rather than be perfect. The fact that I’m doing more and getting work done was the point and it’s getting better each week. I’ve had to make adjustments to make sure I didn’t demand too much of myself, and tweek it so that I could set a realistic goal rather than push myself too hard. I like to think it’s going alright, and helping me get more work finished.

That brings me back here and what I want to do here. I want to make more blog posts, more entries about myself and what’s going on in my world. So while I want to continue to do the writing I always do, this forum will still try to be a place where I try to show the best and most accurate reflection of myself. Sometimes it won’t be pretty, but there will be times when things are well and life is good. I want to share all of them with you one way or another.

If you choose to take this journey with me, I pledge to do better moving forward as I want to keep writing about life, love and all the other stuff that makes our existence on this pale blue dot worth putting up with. I have more than enough reasons to do it, and even more on the way… but that’s a story for another entry.

Until then, take care people.

Peter